The Brother That I Left Behind
by lalala.broadway
Summary: There's another art thief copying Neal Caffrey. But what happens when that copycat turns out to be Blaine Anderson, Neal's long-lost baby brother, and its Neal's job to put him in prison? White Collar/Glee crossover. Klaine. Peter/Elizabeth.
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer: **I own nothing! Not Neal or Blaine or anyone else in this story. I don't own Glee or White Collar, or any of their affiliated characters.

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Neal Caffrey hadn't talked about his brother for 19 years.

Yet, not a day went by when Neal didn't think of him at least once. Often it would be a passing thought, like _Oh, Blaine would have loved that sweate_r_, _or _I wonder if Blaine can play that piece of music now that he's older_.

Many times, however, it was a long pondering, agonizing line of cognizance. His little brother, his sweet Blaine, was out there somewhere in the world. What kind of man was he now? What did he look like? Did he still have those untamable jet black curls of hair, or had they flattened out with age?

Also often, Neal wondered if Blaine was gay.

Neal had had his suspicions when they were children. When tiny, five year old Blaine had told him that Prince Phillip was "the most handsome thing to ever exist in the whole entire universe," Neal had felt realization strike.

He understood that Blaine may not have been sure at that young age, but yet his keen intuition kept telling him that Blaine did, in fact, like boys.

Of course, Neal didn't have a problem with this. Yet, since that day when they were children, stories of gay bashings and gay teen suicides in the news had screamed out loud to him and then haunted him for life. Many times, he would worry for his brother's safety, and wish he could have been there to protect him.

Those were the moments he most regretted leaving Blaine.

Of course, it was for the best. There was no question in Neal's mind that leaving Blaine was the right thing to do for the sake of the kid's own childhood and opportunities.

Yet, that didn't change the feeling of guilt that Neal experienced every time he thought of those large, teary hazel eyes and chubby hands reaching out for him, begging:

"Please don't leave me, Cooper! Please don't let them take me away!" he had screamed as they buckled him into the backseat. Those hazel eyes had watched him fade into the distance, riding away in that shiny new bmw, until Neal became just a speck in the distance and a speck in the background of Blaine's life.

That was the last time he saw his brother, and according to the rules he had agreed to, it was the last time he would ever see him again.

"Neal?"

Peter's voice woke him from his musings.

"Yeah?" Neal returned, already rising from his seat, realizing his mistake.

"You were supposed to be in my office five minutes ago. I put this meeting on your schedule, Neal."

"Oh, yeah, sorry.. sorry, Peter. I'm up. I'm coming now."

Peter regarded him solemnly for a moment, and Neal knew that his boss/partner/best friend was onto something being wrong with him.

And of course, there was always something wrong with him this time of year. Blaine's birthday was in a week, after all.

Blaine's 25th birthday: just another to add to the list of his little brother's birthdays he had missed.

But yet, when it was so close in passing, Neal was looking at birthday cards in grocery stores wishing he had an address to send them to. Even at 35 years old himself, he couldn't help but get a little spacy and distracted in the office.

Neal had finished his sentence with Peter nearly five years earlier by working as a consultant for the FBI. Given the chance, when it was over, he took a permanent position doing the same job, publically stating that it was because working for the FBI gave him the same thrill as pulling cons without needing to pay long-distance shipping for Peter's Christmas cards. (Peter had snorted at this). Peter and his wife, Elizabeth, knew that the real reason he stayed was that Neal finally felt a sense of home and belonging with them and the White Collar division.

So, Neal had gone on to work with Peter as a consultant and partner for the past five years, regularly reminding everyone that the only differences between this and his days as a criminal were the lack of a tracking anklet and the ability to take vacation hours for a week off in Morocco.

The first few times Neal had used those vacation hours, Peter had called him periodically under the guise of "Sorry to bother you during your vacation, but I just have one urgent question."

He really just wanted to make sure that Neal wasn't pulling a mid-vacation con or something similar.

After a year without any more incident than the occasional missing wallet (and that one time with the forged paperwork for a raise), Peter learned to accept that Neal could generally be trusted.

Now, Neal found himself sitting in Peter's office as the older man closed the door behind them and took his own seat behind the desk.

"You sure you're alright, Neal? You've been a little off all day." Peter commented as he searched for the right file in a pile of folders.

_Damn it, Peter_, Neal thought as he shlumped down in his chair. He may be the best ex-con in the business, but Peter had been able to read him since the first year they'd worked together. That ability had only developed with time.

"I'm fine, Peter. Just let it go today. What's the meeting about?" Neal changed the subject blatantly, knowing that it would be better just to evade Peter for now and distract him with work rather than make up some excuse.

"Alright, don't tell me. I spent ten years figuring out your secrets, why stop now?" He agreed sarcastically as he found and pulled out the right folder from his stack.

As he slapped it down on the desk in front of Neal, Peter continued, "New case. Old story. Good thing you need a pick-me-up today, because this'll be one hell of one."

Neal picked up the folder and as he flipped through it, a delighted smile grew across his face.

"Another copycat." Neal grinned.

Peter chuckled. "Yes, but not a complete mimic. There's a clear Caffrey influence in all of these crimes, but there's always something original about them, as well. They were all inspired by your work, but never a complete duplicate."

"Impressive," Neal acceded, setting down the folder.

Peter nodded, picking up the file. "Diana already had some ideas, so she's got a lead for us to check out, if you're up for some work undercover."

Neal stood and flipped his hat up onto his head in true Caffrey fashion.

"Let's go catch a copycat."

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**A/N:** Hey everybody! Thanks for reading!

So either the next chapter or the one after is going to get into exactly what happened between Neal/Cooper and Blaine when they were kids. Stay tuned!

Reviews please? This is my first multi-chap and I could use the encouragement, if you have a moment. :)


	2. Chapter 2

**Disclaimer: **By the very nature of fanfiction, I own none of these characters.

Thank you for all the amazing feedback and reviews! This'll be a short, short update. There's a much longer chapter coming this weekend. =)

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They reviewed the small folder Diana had put together on their suspect as they exited their building.

Neal read over the credentials of an up-and-coming musician who went by an obviously facetious stage name.

If there was one thing this guy was doing right for the con, it was keeping his anonymity. Over the scrawled out moniker was a sticky-note from Diana stating '_Still pulling bank statement for real name.'_ A highly digitized image was clipped to the file, displaying a man's face with dark gelled hair on its head. Another sticky-note read, '_His_ _cd cover. Better photo being pulled.'_

"You'd think a musician would want his face out in the public eye more," Neal commented as they closed the meager file they were going off of.

"Not if he's really an art thief under the guise of a musician," Peter returned, confirming what Neal had already been thinking.

Neal cocked his head briefly and gave a cheeky nod.

.

"So where are we going?" he asked a few minutes later as he climbed into the passenger seat of Peter's car.

"The heart of New York City: a good, old-time Broadway theater." Peter said with a grin before he started the car and gripped the wheel.

"What, are we seeing a musical or something?" Neal joked, fooling Peter into not seeing the actual apprehension in his eyes.

"As a matter of fact, we are. Well, you are. You've got a ticket in will-call for _Newsies_ tonight."

"Oh," Neal frowned, almost grimacing a little.

Peter glanced at him incredulously and laughed. "What, the suave and debonair Neal Caffrey doesn't enjoy a Broadway musical?"

"Not particularly, no."

In all honestly, Neal thought he would enjoy a musical every now and then if it wasn't for the associated memories.

Blaine had loved musicals.

At least, Blaine had loved singing. And he loved singing everything, which included Top 40, Disney music, and the jingles of every major commercial. Honestly, Blaine probably didn't have a major fixation with musicals, but rather music, itself.

But still, with Broadway musicals, there was something about the vivacity (and the sudden breaking into song) that reminded Neal of his little brother.

Peter chuckled. "Well, you may not, but your copycat certainly enjoys them," he continued, "Our guy is in the audience every Friday night, center of the third row."

Neal turned to Peter, bewildered. "Wow. Okay. So he _really_ likes musicals?"

Peter snorted. "No, he really likes his fiancée. He's engaged to the guy who plays Jack, the lead character. He gets comp tickets, so sees the show every Friday night and then they go out to dinner together."

Neal nodded in understanding. "Sweet."

"We've got a ticket right beside him for tonight's show. You go sit by him - Get in close with him, see if you can get a reaction to the theft out of him." Peter explained. "Then afterwards, I'll head backstage and question him and the fiancée."

"The fiancée, too?"

"Diana did some background checking: They've been together since high school, and they've always been closer than your average high school sweethearts. There's slim to no chance that one did it without at least telling the other."

"So we have a pair of married gay art thieves?" Neal grinned.

"Almost married. And the actor had a show the night of the theft – a solid alibi."

"He could still be one of the masterminds."

"Yes, but not likely. Our guy is the main suspect here. Even though he's got a degree in music, he took almost as many fine arts classes in college as he did music ones. If anyone is masterminding this thing, it's going to be your audience buddy tonight."

Neal nodded once. "Alright, sounds simple enough. All I have to do is talk the crime out of him? Piece of cake."

"You're so sure of yourself?"

"Yup. He's young, and it's probably the guy's first con. He's bound to be making rookie mistakes. He'll drop hints without even meaning to, and we'll have him by this time tomorrow."

Peter smirked. "Well, good. We could use an easy case every once in a while."

"It'll be the easiest case we've had all year."

"I'll hold you to that." Peter commented as he rolled up to a parking lot. "Go ahead. I'll meet up with you after the show. You can give me a breakdown on the guy before I meet him for the interrogation."

"Got it," Neal murmured as he climbed out of the car. "Well, my first Broadway show. This is exciting."

"Yup, you're finally becoming a true New Yorker. Silence your cell phone and all that. Now go."

And so Neal Caffrey headed into the Broadway theater that always made him feel so connected to his brother, not knowing how connected they were about to be.

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**A/N:** Short, short chapter.

This is really just filler for the huge chapter coming up. I'm only part-way done with that one and it's already triple this chapter's length. =)

Next update will be this weekend, with a large, angsty dose of Cooper and Blaine.

Please review! Reviews make chapters come faster! Thanks for reading!


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